Foreign ministers work towards bringing back democracy in Fiji

FOREIGN Affairs and Trade Minister Paul Tiensten is confident Fiji is working with the international community to return to democracy sooner.
Mr Tiensten was in Port Vila, Vanuatu, for the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers meeting last Friday and was pleased with its outcome.
The minister deliberated on the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report on the Fiji military coup.
“It is important to continue creating dialogue and engage with Fiji instead of taking measurers to isolate them by judging from an outside point of view,” he said in a statement.
The meeting in Vanuatu, which was chaired by Mr Tiensten, included Australia’s Alexander Downer, New Zealand’s Winston Peters, and Fiji’s interim foreign minister Ratu Epeli Naulatiku.
The foreign ministers maintained that the Fiji military coup was unconstitutional and unacceptable, and backed the EPG’s report for Fiji to expedite (18 months to two years) a return to parliamentary democracy instead of Fiji’s announced 36 months.
The ministers want the PIF to commence a staged process of engagement with Fiji with the current interim government.
They also recommended a phased package of financial and technical assistance to Fiji in view of its commitment and demonstrable progress to the immediate cessation of human rights abuse and a roadmap back to democracy by the interim government.
Assistance recommended includes support for the electoral process, establishment of a credible anti-corruption commission, and to restore and maintain independence of the judiciary.

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